Research

Taxes & Economy

Minimum Wage: Q & A

• December 15, 2005

WHO ARE MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS IN PENNSYLVANIA?…

Fact Sheet

Public Union Democracy

Property Taxpayer Protections: Tax Referendum & Prevailing Wage

• December 14, 2005

The Pennsylvania General Assembly is in the midst of discussing what to do about school property taxes. The discussion is an old one in Harrisburg. The complexity of this issue…

Fact Sheet

State Budget

Pennsylvania’s Spending Limitation Bills

• Matthew Brouillette
• November 8, 2005

Pennsylvania is Exhibit #1 proving the axiom: “You can have government growth, or you can have economic growth, but you can’t have both!” For years, Pennsylvania public policy has increased…

Fact Sheet

Taxes & Economy

Minimum Wage: Facts

• October 18, 2005

Proponents of artificial increases in the government-mandated minimum wage argue, among other things, that raising the hourly minimum wage will help to lift families with children out of poverty and…

Fact Sheet

Taxes & Economy

The Effects of the Proposed Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Increase

• September 13, 2005

In recent years, the movement to enact “living wages” or increases in the minimum wage has been active in states and cities across the country. Advocates of these wage hikes…

Report

Taxes & Economy

Rail Disasters 2005

• June 29, 2005

This paper reviews ridership and other transit data published by the Federal Transit Administration from 1982 through 2003, plus 2004 ridership data published by the American Public Transportation Association, to…

Report

Health Care

Preferred Drug Lists (PDLs)

• June 21, 2005

Governor Ed Rendell has proposed a Medicaid “Preferred Drug List” (PDL) as a means to address Pennsylvania’s welfare spending problem. PDLs limit the availability of drugs to Medicaid recipients and…

Fact Sheet

Regulation

Growing Greener II

• May 13, 2005

While Pennsylvanians obviously want an environmentally safe and economically prosperous state, the $625 million debt plan known as “Growing Greener II” guarantees neither.

Fact Sheet

Taxes & Economy

Tax Cuts & Economic Growth

• May 11, 2005

The paramount economic lesson of the past several decades is that tax cuts stimulate growth and increased government spending chokes it off. DIDN’T PENNSYLVANIA TRY THE TAX-CUT APPROACH IN THE…

Fact Sheet

Taxes & Economy

Air Quality False Alarm: An Analysis of the Natural Resource Defense Councils Heat Advisory Report

• March 23, 2005

This report shows that air pollution will decline in the future, regardless of whether there is global warming, and that NRDC exaggerates likely future temperature increases in any case. Section…

Report

Regulation

Internet Taxes

• February 10, 2005

A number of bills in the General Assembly represent the essential first step in extending the Commonwealth’s sales tax to out-of-state purchases—including those made over the Internet—through the national initiative…

Fact Sheet

State Budget

Total Cost of Pennsylvania Government: 2005 and Beyond

• February 8, 2005

The total cost of state and local government in Pennsylvania is projected to exceed $102 billion in FY 2004-05, and will likely reach more than $115 billion by the 2008-09…

Fact Sheet

Rail Transit: “Corridor One”

• November 10, 2004

Although everyone agrees that traffic congestion and air pollution are neither good nor desirable for Central Pennsylvania, regional rail transit—otherwise known as “Corridor One”—is not the solution to these problems.

Fact Sheet

Regulation

Telecommunications

• October 14, 2004

The debate over the future of high-tech communications development in Pennsylvania parallels the debate over statewide economic development policy in general: Should state government raise taxes on families and businesses…

Fact Sheet

Education

Referendum: School Taxes

• May 11, 2004

Pennsylvania homeowners lack the right to vote on school property tax increases, while citizens in 44 other states enjoy some form of taxpayer protection. As Pennsylvania legislators debate whether or…

Fact Sheet

Taxes & Economy

The Rendell Strategic Sourcing Initiative: An Analysis

• Matthew Brouillette
• April 15, 2004

Executive Summary  …

Fact Sheet

Taxes & Economy

Great Rail Disasters: The Impact of Rail Transit on Urban Livability

• February 1, 2004

Abstract This paper grades rail transit in twenty-three urban areas on thirteen different criteria:…

Report

Education

Racial Bias in Pennsylvania Special Education

• February 1, 2004

Executive Summary…

Fact Sheet

Government Accountability

Reinventing Education in Pennsylvania: Fulfilling the Promise of Public Schooling

• December 31, 2003

For more than 250 years, Pennsylvanians have striven to bring academic excellence within reach of their children. In the mid 1700s, when Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and William & Mary colleges…

Report

Education

Pennsylvanias Education Funding Gap

• Matthew Brouillette
• December 1, 2003

Executive Summary…

Fact Sheet

Taxes & Economy

The Estimated Impact of Gov. Rendells 34 Percent Personal Income Tax Increase Proposal

• July 15, 2003

Executive Summary A major funding stream for Gov. Ed Rendell’s “Plan for a New Pennsylvania” would come from a 34 percent increase in the Commonwealth’s personal income tax (PIT), from…

Fact Sheet